Obama Aides Helped Plan Ads to Back Health Bill, GOP Says

June 8 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama’s aides helped
plan a $150 million advertising campaign paid for by drug
companies to support passage of the 2010 U.S. health-care system
overhaul, according to memos provided by Republican lawmakers.

The drugmakers, along with lobbying groups for seniors and
consumers, helped fund independent political groups to run the
television ads while health-care legislation was being debated
in Congress. The groups coordinated with Democratic strategists
who worked with Obama’s staff on the effort, according to memos
and e-mails among those involved that were released today by
Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Democratic consultants working with the White House asked
to meet supporters of the law “to discuss our ad campaign,”
Ron Pollack, executive director of the Washington-based consumer
group Families USA, said in a June 2009 e-mail to lobbyists at
the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. “As I
mentioned previously, I wanted to get some guidance from the
White House about their messaging and how our effort can be
consistent with that.”

“Before during and after the health-care debate, PhRMA
engaged in the policy discussions,” Matt Bennett, a spokesman
for the lobbying group, said by telephone today. “I can’t speak
to the actions or decisions made by anyone in the White House.”

Eric Schultz, a White House spokesman, called the
Republican accusations “baseless” and “politically driven.”

‘Partisan Effort’

“Republicans, who previously admitted this
is not serious and merely a partisan effort to distract the
President’s re-election campaign, are now attempting to recycle
an old story that was well covered during the original debate
three years ago,” Schultz said in an e-mail.

The Republicans on the committee are targeting whether
Democrats were promised political support from drugmakers in
exchange for limiting what the industry would be asked to
contribute under the health-care overhaul, Bloomberg News
reported last month, citing people familiar with the talks who
asked not to be identified because they were private.

The drug industry agreed to $80 billion to $125 billion in
taxes, discounts and other concessions to help fund the health
law’s programs. In return, they avoided potentially harmful
policies, including one that would have let people import
cheaper brand-name drugs into the U.S.

Republicans led by Representatives Cliff Stearns of Florida
and Michael Burgess of Texas, say the memos show the Obama
administration traded policy concessions in return for
advertising support of the law.

Super PACs

“These PhRMA dollars were funneled to two new ‘Super
PACs’, created and managed in part by White House officials, in
order to win public support for the president’s bill,” House
Republicans said in a memo outlining their views.

Obama’s $1 trillion, 10-year plan to overhaul the health
system passed Congress without any Republican votes. Parts of
the law expanding insurance coverage have been challenged as
unconstitutional by 26 states, and the Supreme Court is slated
to rule on those objections by the end of June.

According to documents released last month, PhRMA agreed to
help back at least three different advertising and advocacy
groups that pushed for health-care reform.

A PhRMA memo described a group called Health Economy Now,
and said that under an agreement “the industry provides the
majority of financial support for positive TV ads advocating
passage of health reform.”

The drugmakers also provided financial backing for
television ads thanking lawmakers for their support of an
expansion of children’s health care under Medicaid, the U.S.
insurance program for the poor, and a campaign called “Harry
and Louise,” run with Families USA.

Representative Joe Pitts, a Republican from Pennsylvania
who sits on the committee, said the Obama administration was
hypocritical for using the outside groups to help back the law.

“The president has publicly condemned corporations funding
advertisements through ‘innocuous-sounding’ third party groups,
but he was more than happy to privately cut a deal with big drug
companies to help push his health care bill,” Pitts said.